Mind-numbing corruption, galloping food inflation, blood-curdling Maoism, life-ripping terrorism (homegrown and otherwise), daylight loot of natural resources (State-sponsored and otherwise), burgeoning trouble in Kashmir, States simmering from within and so on.
India in the year of the lord 2010 is, to put it in Confucian terms, living in interesting times; just over a year after the “nasty jolt” the Congress-led UPA gave the BJP-led NDA in the 2009 general elections.
M.J. Akbar asks the obvious question in The Sunday Guardian:
“Are we heading towards a 1973 situation? In early 1971 Indira Gandhi was re-elected by margins that surprised her Congress. She reached the pinnacle of her tenure with the military triumph in Bangladesh in December 1971. Within a year, inflation had soured the public mood. By the end of 1973, corruption had deepened the mire in which the government was stuck. In 1974, Jayaprakash Narayan, whose own integrity was beyond question, challenged the moral right of Indira Gandhi to continue in office.
“The one great difference is too obvious: there is no Jayaprakash Narayan in 2010. The corrupt are comforted by the fact that the credibility of all politicians is so low that the public does not have an effective vehicle through which it can mobilise its anger. This vacuum should be of little comfort to the government. The wrath, real or simulated, of opposition parties is not the spectre ahead, but the rising discontent of the people.
“The whiplash of food inflation is harshest on the poor, those who earn around a hundred rupees aday. The poor do not protest too often, for the daily task of earning enough to eat is a demanding physical and psychological responsibility that consumes their time. But their patience is not infinite. They voted in large numbers for the Congress in 2009 because they believe in the sincerity of the party. They are beginning to feel betrayed.”
Ah no.
This is a coalition government and that changes everything.
Neither Manmohan nor Sonia possess the same kind of authority as Mrs. G to pull of an internal emergency.
The high inflation can be attributed to one bad monsoon and a good monsoon this year will bring down prices to a tolerable level. Besides, the Indian economy is in a far more robust shape now than it was in the 70s.
Everything MJ Akbar has pointed out (except for inflation) has been happening for a few years now, in UPA-I and now in UPA-II as well. Maoist violence has in fact reduced in places like AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra, but become more concentrated in the likes of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Importantly, the requirements for imposing an internal emergency have changed from internal disturbance to armed rebellion. While Maoist insurgency counts as armed rebellion, it is hardly knocking at the gates of Delhi (or any major city for that matter) to meet the constitutional requirement for imposing an emergency. Even if internal emergency was imposed, the Supreme Court has developed a bit more of a backbone since the earlier Emergency and will strike down any invocation.
The world’s a different place in 2010 when compared to 1975.
Agree with Alok. Extra-defeatist and pessimistic attitude to talk of internal emergency and all that!
ah…another hyperventilating stuff. These fellas never tire of writing about doomsday scenarios.
Good heavens!
After what happened to Indira Gandhi, only a suicidal congress would attempt it..
We have problems, but, I think we can endure it without breaking the constitution.
Churumuri is on track to become a Congress “thinktank”. What better way to get rid of all state BJP, non Congress gov’ts than an emergency.
>>The corrupt are comforted by the fact that the credibility of all politicians is so low that the public does not have an effective vehicle through which it can mobilise its anger.
How true
The Indian ‘poor’ cannot mobilize itself & express discontent. The ‘feudal outlook’ is coded in the Indian genetic make-up.
A leader with a pan Indian following will also not emerge in the medium term. garibi, religion, language, caste are spent issues. So whoever can bankroll candidates will win the elections.
The Congress party predominantly a party of the rich & upper middle class is a safe bet for the ‘haves’ and the ‘vested interests’ as it will never take a defined / polarized stance on any issue, is internally balanced. The Congress elite also are part of the ‘haves’ and ‘vested interests’. ( The statistics of per capita declared income of MPs bears this out)
MJ is a respected journalist but let’s not forget he was shunted out of the editorship of the Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle (arguably at the behest of the UPA) after he opposed the nuclear deal. He has an axe to grind understandbly so and wants to see the UPA disgraced.
Moreover the scandal of CWG 2010 funds and the apoorva Reddy sahodorulu has brought corruption to the fore. The elephant will lumber on, with the corruption, with the violence and the rail accidents.
“The one great difference is too obvious: there is no Jayaprakash Narayan in 2010. ”
Don’t we have one with the Lok Satta party whose integrity is also beyond question ? Unfortunately the media cannot look beyond the cash rich parties as an alternative.
True, the JPN who fought against IG is not there, but there is another Jayaprakash Narayan, who is known for his integrity and uprightness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayaprakash_Narayan_%28Lok_Satta%29
Anyone who feels cheated by “traidional” parties (Congress, BJP, JD and its 100 spin offs, BSP, SP, TMC, NCP etc.) please have a look at loksatta party. They have shown that there is another way of being in politics.
I request churmuri to give some space to honest and upright people as well, not just to dirty rotten scroundel politicians.
@alok
although i m tempted to agree with you, i wonder if the poor- as the article defines them struggling to earn around a hundred rupees a day- are actually worried about the validity, applicability and robustness od a capitalist economy. The fact that inflation is close to out of control is an important issue and the fact that congress is downplaying this issue is bad. Not from a political standpoint, but from the simple standpoint that everyone is ending up paying more and hence struggling for basic requirements. So no matter which incredulous party chooses to oppose the congress, they all have this inflation issue to use for a debate.
I also doubt that the logic of one bad monsoon/one good monsoon will work on farmers who have a lot of experience with growing crops and how monsoons affect their outcome. They might say that this is not the first bad monsoon that we have faced but this is definitely the worst inflation we have seen in the past few years and the government (in this case the congress led coalition) is not doing enough to help us.
No doubt, the current situation in the country is very bad. But neither does it warrant imposition of emergency, nor emergency is required. What is required is a strong law and its faithful implementation in true sense to curb any sort of thing which is harmful to the nation. The debate should be about requirement and shape of that kind of law. Morever, emergency now will not be imposed because: When emergency was imposed, the law and order was very bad. Now, the law and order is not that bad but it is hotchpotch. (Now, neither there is any law nor any order and whatever it is there it is not executed – that is another thing). Earlier, corruption was sporadic, quantum was less and few were involved. Now, corruption is huge, rampant and widespread. Actually it is mind-boggling. Probably, Everyone gets shares and top to bottom all are involved. Earlier, people could go to somebody with their grievances – good leaders, press, judidicary etc. Now, every institution is tainted. Where to go? Earlier, there was public anger. Now it is public apathy. Earlier, wrong doings were protested. Now, people are complacent. Everything and anything is accepted after mute grumbling. Earlier, economic condition of the people was very bad, employment rate was low. Now probably, economically people have progressed and employment opportunities are more. Earlier, if any sort of action was taken against the culprits, it was accepted. Now, motives are attributed – religion, caste, party, witch hunting etc. Winston Churchill is said to have remarked that “Indians are unfit to govern themselves. How true his words have become! GOD SAVE OUR COUNTRY.
Curry Hurry:
>Don’t we have one with the Lok Satta party whose integrity is also beyond question ?
4Ps of Marketing holds good for Political parties too!
If the first P, the ‘product’, is right and still doesn’t sell, then the other 3 Ps must be wrong. Here customer is the voter.
Price – What the customer pays for having chosen the product. In case of Congress/BJP, it is who is less corrupt and would cause less damage. In case of Loksatta this is unknown, so perhaps it is an Upside!!
Placement: If a product is being rightly distributed and if the customer has a true choice of buying the product. i.e. does Loaksatta place a credible candidate on the list.
Promotion: Most of the time this is the one that takes the cake in Political circles. Has loksatta got the Mindshare of the voters? Most folks wouldn’t even have heard of it.
I agree that it’d be good to have an credible alternative, but unfortunately, institution building takes decades.
Harkol,
>4Ps of Marketing holds good for Political parties too!
I guess, couple of months after voting in the govt of our choice, we will start having buyer’s remorse.
@prajwal
My point was that the imposition of emergency in 1975 was the result of a combination of factors that cannot be replicated now in 2010 even if (very) superficially some factors seem to exist.
Inflation has been high for longer periods as in the late 1980s without any imposition of emergency and when the Congress had a bigger majority and an unquestioned leader.
Granted life is hard today for someone on a hundred-rupee-and-less-a-day income, but mass revolts prompting knee jerk government reaction are generally made of worse stuff.
DailyBread:
>we will start having buyer’s remorse.
We would, if we thought the alternative would’ve been better.
In UK, Liberal Democrats have won many seats and are now sharing power. The first thing they are demanding is “Electoral reforms”. I hope some third party like Loksatta emulates it
@complex:
I am a big fan of Loksatta party and its principles. In fact, electoral reforms are at the forefront of JP’s thoughts. As he says, Indians are the last british men! We took anything britain had, without caring whether it was good for us or not. Most countries have gone from first past the post system to proportional representation system. See, what he has to say about parliamentary reforms:
I have listened to this many times and I feel every word he speaks is a gem!!
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3F94782AA8FB8FA1&playnext=1&v=gODbPwD3OhM
By the way, the only way people will become serious about such political reforms is when more rot is exposed (such as Rajya Sabha scam recently exposed).
@div:
The Lok Satta party should demand electoral reforms NOW!!. Naturally, all the political parties will gang up and oppose this. Then, the LokSatta party should tell the people how the political parties are opposing a perfectly legitimate, quick and immediate solution to solve the problem of corruption in Politics.
Complex:
Politics is more complicated than that.. ;0
Other parties won’t oppose any electoral reforms demanded. In all forums they’ll say they openly support it… They’ll even suggest more imporvement.
But, they won’t do a thing to change the status-quo. This is a well established modus-operandi of anyone who is opposed to change – Agree that change is good, but let things be as it is as long as it serves your purpose.
They have been making this demand for a long time. JP, in one of the other videos says that they had come very close to getting it done, but some other event started the political parties to forget about it.
Div:
>but some other event started the political parties to forget about it.
:-)
Read my previous comment..
Political parties never oppose a good/valid/necessary idea. Outwardly they’ll support it, and will pay a _lot_ of lip service to it. It’ll all give an impression of ‘damn, how good are these gentlemen!’.
But, they’ll simply not act. They’ll fall into their comfortable cocoons of inept, corrupt and narrow minded politics.